INDONESIAN ULEMA ASKS EL-SISI TO OPEN RAFAH CROSSING

Jakarta, 21 Dzulqa’dah 1436/5 September 2015 (MINA) – Indonesian ulema Imaamul Muslimin of Jamaah Muslimin Yakhsyallah Mansur asked with respect to the President of Egypt, Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, to open the Rafah crossing for smooth traffic and flow of essential goods for Gaza residents, who increasingly suffer as the consequences of the Israeli blockade.

“We know the condition in Gaza, they are in need of treatment, medicines, foods, goods outside Rafah,” Yakhsyallah Mansur told reporter of Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA), Thursday (4/9).

Furthermore, the Imaamul Muslimin expressed gratitude to El-Sisi who had opened the Rafah crossing specifically for Palestinians who wanted to perform the pilgrimage.

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President’s El-Sisi did an official visit to Indonesia to meet the president Joko Widodo. He was accompanied by several ministers who were also held a talks with fellow ministers from Indonesia.

Indonesia and Egypt has a long good relationship history. Egypt is one of the first countries to recognize Indonesia Independence proclaimed by Soekarno-Hatta on August 17, 1945. Indonesia and Egypt together also raising Asian-African Conference 1955 in Bandung. Both countries then also goes hand in hand with several other countries established the Non-Aligned Movement.

Egypt also choose Indonesia as a friend to participate in the UN peacekeeping forces in the conflict area of Egypt – Israel on Sinai and others.

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For so long, the University of Al Azhar in Egypt always give ample opportunity to the Indonesian youths to study at the oldest prestigious university in the country.

In support of the Palestinian cause, El-Sisi managed to hold conferences to stop the Israeli aggression on Gaza last year through a ceasefire agreement and a draft reconstruction of Gaza.

El-Sisi are now seeking internal Palestinian reconciliation between Hamas and Al Fatah.

As the Israeli blockaded in Gaza continues, a recent report said the UN predicts, the Gaza Strip will be uninhabitable in less than five years, if the economic situation in the area being blockaded was not immediately restored.

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The report released on Tuesday (1/9) by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development in Hanoi, Vietnam, due to severe pointed to eight years due to the economic blockade by Israel in Gaza and three wars there for the last six years.

Israel’s war in Gaza last year created the displaced of half a million people and destroying most of the enclave.

“The war effectively eliminate the middle class and sends nearly all of the population to poverty and dependence on international humanitarian aid,” said the report.(L/P008/R04)

Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)